i have just spent too much time repairing my compact rally car after crashing it last october, we were entered for Bovington on the 4th and 5th march so the pressure was on to get it ready in time, it was a bit last minute at the end but just made it with the car working well and driving as it should with no repairs needed once home. i thought i would be sick of being in the garage but after spending a few nights in front of the tv, i decided it was time to get the spanners out again. last june i bought this compact for £50, it had a split in the inlet pipe but once replaced all was well it is one of the later ones and was lovely to drive, there are a few dents and scratches but still a bit of a shame to pull it apart. i spent last night threading the inner rack arms on a impreza steering rack so i could fit the bmw rod ends and use it on the compact so it would work as a quick rack tonight i started pulling it apart. I got on quite well and have a van full of interior to take to the dump tomorrow. i cut one door bar out, removed the sunroof, struggled with the seats as they are so heavy, removed the seat belts and trim. i only spent a few hours on it i have bought a 6 point cage, some extinguishers, isolator switch, plastic windows, 3.9 medium case lsd, seat rails and harness eyes. the plan is to make a basic rally car using the m44 engine, keeping it as light as possible without spending too much money or taking too long to finish. i will share the seats and harnesses from the other car to keep the cost down. i have my next quarry rally on the 22nd of april which is my target to complete the work. i am really busy with my day job and have to try to work on the car when i can. i also picked up this 328i with full history and 67000 miles. I'm really enjoying driving it as it is lovely to drive. i will see how i get on with the m44 and if i need more power i will go with the 328i engine, 325 inlet and endtune ecu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtexCJHFors after spending so much time and effort on my other car i am really pleased with how it goes and handles so want to keep it for tarmac events and use the blue one in the quarry and share drive it encouraging other drivers to see how much fun it is.

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this is a box i made to raise the foot of the main hoop, if the foot was bolted directly to the floor i would have problems removing the rear half of the cage out of the car trial fitting the main hoop i bought a hole cutter for notching the tubes but found a good vid on youtube about notching the tubes with an angle grinder which works well, can't fit any more of the cage until i receive the front legs, can't fit the diff until i get the new diff mount, next job will be to weld in the seat rails, rail plates and harness eyes

I'm held up waiting for the front cage legs. I have fitted the medium case lsd, collected the seats, rails and steel to weld the frames in and had a go at notching the tubes using an angle grinder, i am pretty impressed with the results (thank you youtube)

i have finally finished the cage and can now start putting the car back together. the cage has been a nightmare, the front legs have to be rotated about 30 degrees between the bends which i did not realise until the new legs came down so i had to order another pair. the cost is adding up and i have spent hours of work on it. i have welded in some seat rails and fitted the sunroof panel. i took all the plastic vents out of the back of the dash, cut out for the front cage legs and fitted the dash. it is nice to be putting parts back in without having to grind, weld and paint first. the next job is to paint the sunroof panel, fit all the wiring, steering column and wheel so i can work out where the seat is going. i am leaving the door bars until the end of the build as i don't want to be climbing in and out over them, it is bad enough getting over the seat rails. i have painted the rear quarter and that looks ok now. i can refit the fuel tank, prop and exhaust now the welding has been finished

Lots has been happening with the car, the cage is finished apart from the door bars, i have all the parts needed to fit them but will leave them until the last thing as it gets harder to get in and out with them fitted. the seat rails and seats are fitted along with the harness eyes for 6 point harnesses.the hand held extinguisher has been fitted in front of the drivers seat and the plumbed in extinguisher is behind the drivers seat. the extinguisher pull cable has been fitted to a plate in the engine bay next to the electric isolator button the push button goes to the old central locking solenoid from the boot that now pulls a cable connected to the electric isolator. the ABS pump has been removed and all the brake pipes have been replaced with a hydraulic hand brake fitted next to the gearstick. the plastic windows have been fitted and the brakes bleed so the car can now be driven. Everything worked as it should have done apart from the fuel gauge and rev counter which turned out to be a plug not pushed in enough in the back of the dash. The steering feels good and seems a lot quicker than the original rack. The brakes are good and the engine pulls well with the 3.9 diff fitted. The rally i was trying to get the car ready for was planned for tomorrow but has been cancelled as there is work going on at the venue that it was to be staged at. The car would have been ready for competition but when i heard about the cancellation i decided to stop working on the car as i have been working too much on it lately. I have to fit the mud flaps, toe straps and door bars before it can be taken for its check over to get its vehicle passport needed before competition. These are small jobs that shouldn't take long to finish off and i might get them done over the weekend if i get a chance. it has been one and a half months of evenings and weekends from start up to just about done. it has been done on a budget and is a good base to work from. I will use it as it is and see how the standard suspension handles the bumps, i have some e36 M3 struts i can try then fit the 2.8 engine. i am looking forward to competing in it and am very pleased with the way it has turned out

i really have tried to keep the costs down. the only way i could have done this for less money is by not using plastic windows and leaving the diff as it was, just about everything else was a necessity. i could have built an impreza for not much more money which would have been a much more competitive car on the dirt but it wouldn't have been as much fun and fun is what its all about. i removed the rear door window divider from the 328i and fitted it to the front door of the compact. i then cut the plastic window into a triangle and a parallelogram, the triangle is fixed in place and i can now slide the main part of the window up and down which i much prefer to the small sliders that you usually get. The rally i was getting it ready for has been postponed to july which gives me plenty of time to complete the car so i am grabbing an hour here and there, i would love to spend more time on it as it is so close to being finished but have many domestic duties to catch up on in the house

i have removed the front and rear anti roll bars and am using the standard suspension. its pretty soft and i will see how it works out, i have some m3 struts i can try and i also have some bilsteins but will have to raise them up a bit as they are too low. it is all about keeping the cost to a minimum

it is going to be used purely for gravel rallies. when i say gravel there are lots of small rocks, pot holes and the odd jump, it is pretty rough and the car needs to be as heigh as possible as it will bottom out. the first one i competed in split my sumphttps://youtu.be/QJIAoHgElyc